The Feel of 'Fred'
by JoeMerl
Summary: The births of his nieces and nephews force George to consider the name of his own future son. One-shot, not angst.


**Author's Notes:** This is probably the kind of story nobody but me is interested in. Oh well.

* * *

**December 1999**

"We were thinking of naming the baby after Fred, actually."

George froze in the process of pouring two Firewhiskys. "Oh," he said after a moment, standing up stiffly and handing a glass to Bill.

Bill seemed to take this as a bad reaction. "Of course, we haven't decided for sure yet," he said quickly. "The baby could be a girl, after all. And if it _is_ a boy, we still wouldn't name it after Fred if, you know...you object or anything."

"Well, honestly I just hadn't thought of—" George suddenly blinked. "'If I object?' Why would I object?"

Bill shrugged, looking supremely awkward. "Well—you know. Fleur and I, and the rest of the family—we sort of feel like you have..._dibs_ on Fred's name, if you wanted to give it to your own son."

"But I'm not having a son," George said, feeling rather stupid.

"Well, no. But you're probably going to one day, right?"

George looked down at his Firewhisky, feeling very uncomfortable. "I dunno. Maybe?"

He quickly changed the subject, but he could only escape it for so long—as the months passed people kept asking Bill and Fleur about baby names, and they, in turn, kept asking George about Fred's. He gave a noncommittal answer each time, but that became harder as Fleur's due date approached and then passed.

It came to a head when she finally went into labor, about a week late, on May Day night—meaning that the baby would be born on the second. George felt trapped by the news—this wasn't just the first new baby in the Weasley family since Fred had died, now it was going to be born on the anniversary of his death. George _had_ to give them the name now, didn't he? Not that he was even sure that he wanted it, but now it felt as if God had just stepped it and snatched it out of his hands. How could you justify _not_ naming the baby "Fred" under these conditions?

It was easy, actually; the baby turned out to be a girl. The proud parents christened her Victoire Apolline Weasley, which was still quite significant tbut left Fred's name open for future use.

George couldn't help but wonder if Fred had been pulling some cosmic strings just to mess with him.

* * *

**May 2001**

George's reprieve was short; in less than a year Fleur was pregnant again, and soon Bill was following him around the joke shop, trying to bring up the issue once more.

"Wait—'fray-day-reek?' _That's_ what you want to call him?"

"It's just French for 'Frederick,'" Bill said defensively.

"Fred always _hated_ being called 'Frederick.' I can't even imagine how he'd react to having a namesake burdened with _Frédéric_."

"No offense, but you seem to be dodging the issue," Bill said, as George stacked fake wands on the shelves and tried to ignore him. "It's a simple question: are you going to want to use 'Fred' for your future child or not?"

"I'm not even sure if I'm going to _have_ a future child! I'm not in any rush to settle down like the rest of you," he muttered, walking briskly back to the front desk and grabbing more merchandise. He was pointedly avoiding his brother's gaze. "It's not like I can decide on a name before I've picked out a bloody _mother_ for the kid."

"Well, it's not like Fleur can just hold ours in until you decide!"

Fortunately, Bill's second child was another girl, who was named Dominique Gabrielle Weasley. George just had to hope that this string of nieces would hold up until he figured things out.

* * *

**January 2004**

Percy and Aubrey exchanged sheepish smiles as the Weasley dinner table erupted into applause. Bill reached across the table to give his brother a playful punch on the arm.

"Oh, this is wonderful! Congratulations!" Molly said, clapping her hands together. "When is it due?"

"June," Aubrey said, looking slightly flushed as Percy put his hand on top of hers.

"That is only a month after mine! The two of us will have to go shopping for clothes together," Fleur said.

"I bet the two of them will be best mates," Arthur said, beaming as he cut up food for Victoire; the three-year old was sitting on his lap, playing with his glasses. "They'll be like Fred and George—they were never bored as kids, always had the other one to play with."

"That reminds me," Bill began, leaning across the table.

George covered his face. "Merlin's beard, not this again."

"What?" Hermione asked, looking from one brother-in-law to the other.

George sighed. "Bill keeps harassing me about whether or not they can use Fred's name."

"Only because you won't give us a straight answer!"

Percy, however, had suddenly coughed into his butterbeer. Molly looked up.

"Is something wrong?"

Percy straightened up, rapping lightly on his chest. "No, Mum. It just—" He looked awkwardly at his wife, then back at Bill and George. "We were sort of thinking of using Fred's name, too."

George stared at him for a long moment. "Oh, so now I'm going to have to listen to _both of you_ harassing me?!"

Sure enough, over the coming months George was avoiding both his brothers and the topic of names, and had to admit to himself that yes, he _was_ being terribly indecisive about the issue. And unfortunately, his luck had run out—in late May Fleur gave birth to a son, and Bill finally demanded that George make a decision. Finding no way out this time, he blurted out an impulsive "No!," then looked away as though incredibly guilty. Bill sighed, said it was fine and went back into Fleur's room, only to emerge a few minutes later with their second choice, Louis Guilliaume Weasley.

"Well, I can't say much about the middle name, but little Lou will probably thank me that he didn't wind up 'Fray-Day-Reek,'" George mumbled to himself.

Thankfully, Percy stopped asking about the name after that, having apparently decided that George wasn't going to deny it to Bill but give it to him instead. In any event his child was the third Weasley niece, and wound up named after Molly instead.

* * *

**August 2004**

Ginny and Harry announced their pregnancy before little Louis was even born. George had braced himself for a third onslaught, but thankfully it didn't come.

Ginny finally broached the subject in August, when the baby's due date was only a few months away. "You don't want us to name the baby after Fred, do you?"

George gave her swollen belly a cautious look. "I don't know, to be honest. I already told Bill 'no.' It would seem rather low to give it to you instead."

She gave him a shrewd look. "But _you_ don't want the name?"

George shrugged. Then, feeling that to be inadequate, he finally looked his sister in the eye. "I'm not even sure if I'm going to _have_ kids. I'm not even married or anything."

"Please. We all have a betting pool going for when you're going to ask Angelina."

"Well, I hope you didn't wager too much on it. We broke up the other day."

Ginny sounded exasperated. "_Again?_"

"We're getting off-topic. Even if I _do_ get a little rugrat, I'm...actually not sure I want to name it after Fred." He looked almost guilty admitting it. "I mean—I understand why everyone _thinks_ I would, and why you all want to. But somehow it just feels _weird_ to me. I can't name my _son_ Fred. Fred is my _brother,_ not my son." He rolled his eyes, then gave her the closest thing he could manage to a serious look. "It's like—as much as I hate to admit it, if I have kids, at some point I'm going to have to _discipline_ the little blighters. Now, how in the hell am I supposed to look my little boy in the face and say, 'Fred Weasley, you go to your room!' without feeling like the world's biggest, most hypocritical _prat?_"

Ginny chuckled, then touched her stomach as Baby Potter gave a powerful kick. "I think I actually know what you mean. Harry and I have discussed names like Fred or Arthur or _Ronald,_" she made a face, "but honestly Harry likes them more than I do. I know people with those names already, so they just seem odd to use for a baby."

"Exactly! 'Fred' is someone I play pranks with, not someone who's _nappies_ I'm supposed to change."

Ginny smiled again. Then after a moment she said, "What about 'James?'"

"...That was Harry's dad's name, right?"

"Yeah. I like it well enough, and since Harry doesn't mind recycling names it seems like a good choice."

George grinned. "Harry's dad helped make the Marauder's Map. I don't think Fred would even _mind_ losing out to him."

* * *

**December 2005**

While Ginny had been George's most understanding sibling in her _first_ pregnancy, her _second _revealed some issues.

"We can't decide on a boy's name," Ginny said, throwing up her hands as she entered the Burrow kitchen. "None of us like anything that the other does!"

"What do you mean? You two didn't have any problem the last time," George said, turning the page of the _Prophet._

"Well, unfortunately Harry's family tree didn't have that many branches. We've pretty much settled on 'Albus' for a Christian name—"

"Ah—old-fashioned, but kind of trendy, named for someone great—I approve."

"But we can't agree on a middle name! Harry seems to think we need to name _all_ of our kids after _somebody,_ so he shoots down every other idea I have. Then I was thinking of naming the baby after Neville, but he doesn't like that either. _He_ wants the baby to be 'Albus Ronald,' and I simply _refuse_ to do anything to inflate his ego like that."

George snickered. "Better hope for a girl, then."

"That would be lovely, but unfortunately we have to cover all our bases."

"Well, what about..." George thought for a moment. "Remus? Harry and Lupin were always really close."

"That's Teddy's middle name."

"Oh. Right."

"Look, I'm sorry, but we've already gone through every name we can think of, and 'Albus Frederick' seems to be the only thing we can agree on."

George winced, put down the paper, and sighed. "Don't say 'Frederick,' at least. Fred always hated that."

"So we can use it?"

"...No."

"Why not?! You told me you didn't even _want_ to use that name!"

"I said I wasn't _sure!_" George sighed, taking a sip of his tea. "But I'm not sure if I want anybody _else_ to use it, either."

Ginny stared at him in disbelief. "So you're _not _going to use the name...but you're going to keep the rest of the family from using it, either?"

"...Yes." He quickly continued before she could start yelling. "It's like everyone says—if one of us is going to use the name, it should be me!"

"Then just _say_ you're going to use it! But if you're _not_ going to use it, let someone else have it!"

"But then—if someone _else_ uses it, then I'll—I'll—"

"You'll _what?!_"

"Feel guilty for _not_ using it!"

She stared at him for a moment. "That's no excuse! If you don't want to honor Fred yourself that's fine, but do you honestly think it will make it better if you won't even—"

She was suddenly interrupted when the backdoor burst open, revealing a jubilant Ron and Hermione.

"Great news, everyone! Hermione and I just got back from that bloody doctor, and—"

"And now you want to bother me about Fred's name, too! Wonderful!" George said, throwing up his hands.

Ron blinked. "...No. It turns out Muggles have a machine that let's you see the baby before they're born. We're having a girl!"

Ginny's brain immediately switched into "mummy mode," forgetting her fight with Fred so that she could hug Hermione and give her congratulations. George, thankfully, was able to slip away while she and the rest of the family were fawning over the blurry photographs that (apparently) showed a healthy baby girl.

Two months later, Ginny and Harry had their second son. And he was...

"Albus Severus? ...Albus SEVERUS?!"_  
_

"Shut up. It was the only other name that we could both agree on."

"The only name that you could agree on was after the MANIAC who CURSED OFF my bloody _EAR?!_"

"IT WAS EITHER THAT OR 'RONALD,' GEORGE! TAKE YOUR BLOODY PICK!"

Ron's daughter, meanwhile, came into the world less dramatically as Rose Monica Granger Weasley.

* * *

**July 2007**

"If the new baby's a boy, we're naming him after Fred."

"Aren't you supposed to be _asking_ me about that?"

"You've had _ten years_ to use the name, George. _Ten. Years._ We had to name Albus after Snape, do you really think we have any other options left?!"

Fortunately they had plenty of girl's names available, so the baby wound up Lily Luna Potter instead.

* * *

**March 2008**

"We _have to_ use Fred's name. The doctor said it's a boy and Hermione wants to name him _Wendell._ I am not forcing my son go through life as _Wendell Weasley!_"

Fortunately the two were able to compromise, and the baby wound up Hugo Wendell Granger Weasley instead.

* * *

**February 2009**

By this point George's mixed feelings and protectiveness of Fred's name had become something of a running joke in the family. George kept trying to replace it with an "all my siblings breed too much" meme, but somehow it never caught on with anybody else.

Percy, of course, was not one for jokes of any kind, so when Audrey got pregnant again he pointedly did not discuss the issue until her eighth month.

When he did, it was rather simple.

"We were thinking of naming the baby after Fred—"

"No."

Percy paused, then walked away. For once, George found himself happy that he was so placid and humorless.

The baby was a girl, anyway, and was named Lucy Edith Weasley.

* * *

**October 2009**

It was bound to happen eventually. After about a dozen years of adult bachelorhood, ten nieces and nephews and six serious break-ups and make-ups with Angelina, George was staring the prospect of fatherhood in the face.

He felt oddly numb as he stared down at the parchment, with name after name added and scratched out and rewritten in different combinations. "I just don't know," he mumbled. "Nothing seems...right."

"Well, 'Fred' if it's a boy. If it's a girl—"

"No, _not_ Fred if it's a boy! Or at least...we haven't _decided_ Fred if it's a boy. I haven't agreed!"

Angelina rolled her eyes, impatiently patting her swollen abdomen. "George, you are the _only one_ still fighting this. We _all_ know that's what we're going to go with. Even the _kids_ know. Hugo spent all afternoon calling my stomach 'Fwed.'"

"Well, I think I get more of a say than he does!" George crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling. "I mean, yeah, 'Fred' is the obvious choice, but it just doesn't feel right. Fred is—"

"—your brother, not your son, okay, we've been over this. But everyone will kill you if you don't use it, so let's at least make it a middle name. Our son will be 'Something Frederick Weasley.'"

"_Ugh._ Does it have to be 'Frederick?' That _really_ doesn't feel right."

"Well, it _was_ Fred's name, dear."

"I know, but he _hated _it. He wouldn't _want_ us to pass it onto our kid. He can just be 'Fred.' 'Something Fred Weasley.'"

Angelina quirked an eyebrow. "That's a little odd."

"Oh, and—" George scanned the list again. "_Roxanne_ isn't a little odd?"

"You said you liked that one!"

"I do, but I like it because it's _not_ conventional!"

"Alright, _fine._" Angelina rolled her eyes again, though more good-naturedly this time. "But can we work on giving little Freddy a _first_ name? Maybe something longer to balance out—"

"_Freddy?_"

Angelina blinked. George was suddenly looking at her with the oddest expression on his face.

"Fred Weasley. Freddy Weasley. _Fred_ Weasley..._Freddy_ Weasley..."

"Honey? Are you alright?"

Instead of answering, George closed his eyes and thought back to one of the innumerable times that he and Fred had been plotting a prank or working on their merchandise. He pictured the two of them talking and laughing together, and then imagined himself calling his brother "Freddy" instead of "Fred."

It felt utterly wrong. Wronger than "Frederick." It just didn't fit.

Then he imagined himself looking down at some mischievous little boy who was a mixture of himself and Angelina, and applied that name to him instead.

Somehow, it worked. At least a lot better than "Fred" did.

George opened his eyes to catch Angelina's curious gaze. He grinned.

* * *

**January 2010**

George was grinning again when he quietly emerged from his sleeping wife's room to introduce the Weasley and Johnson families to their new son, Freddy.

"'Fred.' I'm shocked," Charlie said, rolling his eyes as they crowded around him.

"Uh-uh!" George scolded. "He's 'Fred Gideon Weasley' only on the legal forms. This is _Freddy._"

A few of the Weasleys looked confused at that, but George ignored them to stare down at his newborn child's face. _Ickle Freddy,_ he joked to himself, and imagined Fred standing over his shoulder, jostling with the others for a look.

It felt perfect.


End file.
